To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
Fantasy. 344 Pages. 5 Stars
Synopsis:
Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.
The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?
My Review:
I cannot say how pleasantly surprised I was by this book. I’ve been in a mermaidy, swashbuckling, sea stories mood and this book hit that sweet spot. I’m generally cautious about new authors and the opening of this book had me a little nervous, but I’d give it a solid 4.5 stars.
The story effectively sets the tone from the first page. It is violent and it does thematically explore humanity and monstrosity. It touches on abuse and manipulation, trauma, fear-led dictatorship, murder, family, loyalty, and breaking free of generational dysfunction. And as a new-to-me author, I wasn’t sure where Christo was going with all this, but she pulled it off.
The story subtly followed the Little Mermaid plotline, but with much interesting worldbuilding and unique twists on the classic tale. I’ve always loved sirens and mermaids, and I love that Christo not only distinguished the two (as many people decline to do), but she did it in such a unique way. The siren culture and the cultures of the different kingdoms we visited were each unique and made the world feel immersive. The story kept me turning pages, but the world and characters are really what shone the most I think.
Speaking of, I liked Lira. Her character struggled in a realistic way and I appreciated understanding her motives, her background, and what led her to becoming who she was. I enjoyed watching her learn and grow alongside Elian’s crew on their ship, the people she encountered. Elian was interesting, but I think he showed less growth than I would have liked. It’s not that I didn’t like him. He was smart, clever. And I liked that. But his change was less subtle, less developed. Either way, I did like them both and their dynamic.
It was neat to see an enemies-to-lovers trope turned on it’s head. They weren’t suddenly friendly to one another. The romance didn’t change the core of who they were, but rather pushed them to be better people, to grow. Their personalities didn’t change and I appreciated that. I also really enjoyed getting to see Elian’s crew and how they bonded. The dynamics they brought to the cast. And the way they again pushed each character toward growth.
The last chapter was…a little disappointing, but the rest of the book was actually excellent. It’s a little darker and more violent than I usually read, but again, thematically, I think she pulled off the arcs and the character changes fairly well. I would have chosen a few different minor details for that final chapter, but perhaps that’s just personal preference.
Content: there’s some swearing and innuendo, but no explicit sex scenes and the language isn’t overwhelmingly frequent. It is violent, and deals with mature themes as mentioned above. I would only recommend this one for 18+